Egypt: ousted president Mohammed Morsi detained over ‘Hamas plot’

Egypt’s ousted president Mohammed Morsi was today accused of killing soldiers and conspiring with Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The state prosecutor ordered his detention for 15 days for an investigation to be carried out into the allegations, according to the country’s official news agency.

One claim was that he was in contact with Hamas to help him escape prison in 2011, after he and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders were jailed in the uprising that led to the ousting of president Hosni Mubarak.

Mr Morsi was himself thrown out of power by the military on July 3, amid mass protests against him. He is being held in an undisclosed location and dozens of people have died in clashes involving his supporters, his opponents, the army and police. Yesterday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the army to release him and other Muslim Brotherhood members “or have their cases reviewed transparently without delay”.

Today millions of people were expected to take to the streets in rallies for and against Mr Morsi. Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has called on people to take to the streets to give the military a mandate to confront “terrorism”. But the army has also warned it will use force against any group resorting to violence.

A statement on a military Facebook page said: “We reaffirm that the Egyptian armed forces... never uses its weapons against its own people but will do so against violence and black terrorism which has no faith and no nation.” The Muslim Brotherhood said Gen Sisi was “calling for civil war”.